Theatre in the Third Reich, the Prewar Years: Essays on Theatre in Nazi Germany (Contributions to the Study of World History) by Glen Gadberry

Author:Glen Gadberry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2009-01-03T13:31:00+00:00

Krauf3 saw the creative act as a departure from self and an immersion into the essence of the story to be portrayed. He saw himself entering the magic circle armed with costume, make-up, and so on, articulating for the audience the core of being of the character portrayed.

It is clear from what we know of his work that he had a power and a talent resembling that of the shaman. He was possessed of a demonic nature that the audience found appealing. He is quoted as saying that his only goal was "to enchant, to enchant."11 Kraut; believed that stage make-up existed to make the human mask.12 To escape shyness, Krauf3 sought refuge in characters on stage, tapping into the magic circle and utilizing the most subtle of all masks, the persona, on stage. His acting possessed a kind of demonic and powerful charm.

Essentially his theatre was the theatre of idea manifested in physical form. German belles lettres and theatre have long thought of the mind as the primary channel of communication, from artist to art form, from theatre to spectator. Krauf3 seemed to possess an extraordinary talent for binding his audience to him. In his book on Krauf3, Wolfgang Goetz tells us that Krauf3 reached out from his artistic core and drew the spectator into the soul of the actor or into the soul of the character.13 Reinhardt said it well: Krauf3 was the "legitimate heir" of the famed Burgtheater actors Bogumil Dawison (1818-1872) and Friedrich Mitterwurzer (1844-1897). Krauf3 had the ability to project "his life intensively into each role, so that he transformed himself physically by an unusual process of autosuggestion. However the change did not occur with a fake belly, but through experiencing the life of the role. Herein lies the art of acting in its most profound aspect."14

Kraut's style lay in enchantment. He lured the spectator into the illusion of the character and of the mise-en-scene. Those who saw his work were not always able to distinguish between illusion and reality; they lost their own reality for his. His prominence and his ability to bind his audience made him particularly attractive to the Third Reich. It can be said that the Nazis recognized his brilliance as an effective weapon for their drive to manipulate the populace. Germany had for centuries revered its theatre. What better weapon than an actor with such hypnotic force?

Krauf3 was clearly active during the Third Reich-in Berlin he was a principal actor at the Staatstheater (the Preugische Schauspielhaus am Gendarmenmarkt) and occasionally starred at the Burgtheater in Nazi Vienna. He made eight films between 1935 and 1943. He was also honored by the new government: in September 1933, Propaganda Minister Goebbels named him Deputy President of the Theatre Chamber, under President Otto Laubinger, a more politically acceptable but less famous actor. In 1934, the Minister-President of Prussia, Hermann Goring, honored him as State Actor (Staatsschauspieler) among fifteen significant theatre artists including Gustav Grundgens.15 He was awarded the Goethe Medallion in 1938.

Did he

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